Reunion

Yesterday I was finally back to the baby house after the New Year holiday. Earlier in the day Jody and I had helped Kendra and her mom move their belongings back to their apartment after their stay at the hotel. We ate lunch at Kendra's apartment and enjoyed talking, as we tend to do a lot of that. By 3 I was back in the apartment and at 3:35 I was getting dressed for going to the baby house, but then I began to wonder if I really was going. I picked up my cell phone to call Yulia to ensure that I'd be going and my cell phone rang with Yulia calling to make sure I remembered that I was going. Too funny.

We arrived at the baby house to find the front doors locked. We walked around and went in using the court yard door. We never know what door will be open or locked. One night we went to leave and the front door was locked, we had to go out the kitchen door.

Upstairs we went and I get the play room door to see Denis sitting on the couch. He saw me and came running a smile breaking out on his face as he got closer to me. I bent down and he threw himself into my arms and gave me a great big hug. We were at the door of the play room for a few minutes talking to his friends and getting and giving hugs and kisses. Yes, kissing through a face mask is an experience not to be missed.

Eventually we went into the isolation room for our visit. Denis quickly got out his juice and banana. I've started cutting up the banana as Denis was stuffing too much of the banana into his mouth at a time. But excuse me, my son doesn't like to have dirty fingers, and I will give him the fact the banana was really slippery, so I ended up feeding him the banana. He'd discovered that my watch, which clips onto my purse, has a button which when pushed shines a red light. Well we had that red light everywhere. Then I gave him my flashlight. Ah the fun you can have at 2 with a flashlight.

At the end of the visit I pulled out his diapers and clothes for tomorrow and Denis knew that time was up. He tried to hide that he was holding the flashlight, I moved from the isolation room into the hall where the cubbies are and he looks at me while hiding the flash light and says "paka mama' and blows me a kiss. Total monkey eh? The nanny took the flashlight away from him and returned it to me, and Denis let us all know that he wasn't happy.

While Denis cried I took one of his group mates with me to my knapsack. It turns out the first pair of running shoes I bought for Denis the ones around 4 sizes too big, are the perfect size for Artomb. The nurse last week asked if it would be okay if I gave them to Artomb. So I gave him the shoes. He went to put them into Denis' cubby, but Yulia said no they are not Denis' they are yours. Oh what a marvelous grin broke out on his face. He was very happy to put them into his cubby. Denis knows what clothes are his, so I'm hoping he won't cause a problem when he sees the shoes.

Today is already beginning to brighten outside and it is only 9:30. Not sure what we will do today. We are still on the hunt for fruit and vegetables. I think I saw a delivery of potatoes at a store up the road yesterday when I was there buying my essential. I bought 5 bags of potato chips. Hey, nights are long here and I haven't been able to find chips at the stores closer to me. After the baby house Yulia took me to a store that sells notions as I need a button or two to finish the hat I knit for myself on the weekend, unfortunately they were doing inventory, maybe the store will be open today. I'm so getting comfortable here in Uralsk, I will be ever so sorry to leave.

I'm still not sure about my time line for returning home and for returning here. I think I'll be changing my airline tickets for going home for a 3rd time, by the time I get home I'll have paid almost twice the value of the ticket, ah such is life with International adoption. Time for breakfast and then phone calls to determine today's events. It's cold out there -8 C with a 26 km wind, I know it is much colder in the Eastern part of the country, but that is cold when you walk for 30 to 40 minutes. We'll have to start taking the bus.

Paka paka